Scottish legal history has been made after a man was convicted of filming pirate copies of blockbuster movies in a Glasgow cinema and distributing them over the internet.
In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, Christopher Clarke was sentenced to 160 hours of community service at Glagsow Sheriff Court yesterday after he admitted secretly recording six films on his mobile phone and selling them over a file-sharing website.
Clarke was caught after he made a pirate copy of Ridley Scott’s film Robin Hood at a preview showing in Cineworld in Glasgow before the movie had even received its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Other titles he had also copied included Iron Man 2, Kick Ass, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang and Four Lions.
John Dunn, area procurator-fiscal for Glasgow, said: “Clarke repeatedly pirated films from cinema screenings and uploaded them to the internet for profit.
“Piracy is by no means a victimless crime – it undermines legitimate businesses and the arts sector as a whole, and can be used to channel money into organised crime.”
The inquiry was launched by Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) after film industry bosses became so concerned over the number of illegal copies being made in Glasgow that they considerd stopping issuing movies to screens in the city.
By tracing a digital “watermark” which identifies the cinema screen and time a film was shown, Fact officers realised that six films on a website which allowed others to download videos for a fee had been copied from screenings at Cineworld in Renfrew Street.
After studying a list of Cineworld’s subscribers, who pay a monthly fee to see unlimited films, they found that Clarke had attended each film. They also worked out that the films had been posted on the internet from a computer belonging to Clarke’s girlfriend – who disapproved of his scam but let him use her PC.
A special preview of the Russell Crowe blockbuster Robin Hood was held in May last year at Cineworld in Glasgow, several hours before the film’s world premiere was due to take place in Cannes, and Fact investigators watched Clarke buy his ticket before going into the cinema to watch the film.
After the showing, Clarke was stopped and searched by police, who found a copy of the film on his phone.
Clarke, of Keppochill Road, described how he would hang the phone around his neck and hide it in a cloth tube so that it would not move as the recording was made.
When his flat was searched police found several master copies of films on his computer, and he was charged with offences under the Copyright Act. The amount of money he received from the scam depended on the quality of what he delivered. He had been paid £300 for two of the films.
After Clarke was sentenced yesterday, Mr Dunn, said: “I hope this sends a strong message to all those who believe that they can remain anonymous solely because they commit their crimes over the internet.
“They should beware that the investigative authorities of Scotland work tirelessly to remain at the forefront of forensic computer analysis and technological specialism – we can and will track down those who pirate films, whether the profit is made in cyberspace or a marketplace.”
Kieron Sharp, director general of Fact, added: “Piracy threatens the livelihoods of everyone working in the retail, cinema and film and television production industries in the UK.
“This individual was responsible for the recording of films and their subsequent uploading to the internet for downloading or streaming by millions of people worldwide.”
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